Tainted
by SleepingQuietCloud
Summary: Soot is a normal young loner, with many moons ahead of her. And best of all, she's fallen in love with a handsome, strong tom named Essence. Essence is the nicest, most loyal, best cat she could ever find. But there's something hidden under that skin, and perhaps Soot's destiny is not as simple as she thought. ***GORE WARNING***
1. Prologue and Allegiances

Pawsteps echoed through the forest, leaves stained with orange, yellow, and red colors. The pale sun was just beginning to rise over the treetops, leaving a yellowish mist on the ground below.

Black fur was visible, like a shadow cast against the bright colors and light. A she-cat with a bulging belly appeared to be traveling, perhaps looking for a good place to birth her kits. The leaves on the rough ground barely crackled. She was too nimble and light-footed to make any noise at all.

A cat would think she, the black-furred soon-to-be mother, would settle down, lay down, and do the things that any expectant she-cat would do. The opposite soon proved to be true.

The cat unsheathed her claws and sharpened them on a scrawny, unhealthy birch tree. It proved to do little good, as the wood inside the trunk was half-rotted and soft.

Next, she ran her claws down her belly. Blood poured out as if it were escaping from a prison. They went deeper and deeper each time, until she had to stop for a moment to escape from her own lightheadedness. After a grueling few moments, the skin of her belly hung off, and blood became a pond on the forest floor. The black cat dropped to the ground, she had lost too much blood to stand up.

As a final stand, she took her red-stained claws and dug into her gut. She scooped three lifeless underdeveloped sacs of kit, as mangled and bloody as she was. With the last of her ever-draining energy, she tore the kits to shreds. All that remained was a pile of halfgrown fur, bones, and blood.

The she-cat's heart was still beating, and her lungs breathing, although faint. She was not able to move, and suffered endlessly the entire day, pain becoming a part of her, until finally, she died at nightfall.

 _Bye, Tainter. I hope you had a good time destroying my life._

* * *

Allegiances

* * *

 _ShadowClan_

Leader: Thistlestar: A medium brown tabby tom with a spiky texture to it at the tail. He has white paws and yellow eyes.

Deputy: Mottlemist: A slightly diluted, graceful calico she-cat with amber eyes that have hazel and brown flecks in them.

Medicine Cat: Barktail: A mostly white tom with a dark brown tabby tail and face, he has blue eyes.

-Warriors-

Hawkfur: a dark brown tabby tom with a white chest and belly, blue eyes. Barktail's brave brother.

Cloudmask: a pale gray tom with a black mask-like spot on his face, amber eyes

Milkyheart: a white she-cat with extremely pale gray swirls, cloudy copper eyes

Blackwhisker: a black tom with green eyes which have white specks

Weaselfoot: a gray-brown tom with yellow eyes

Lilysight: orange tabby she-cat with sharp yellow eyes

Spottedpounce: strong calico she-cat with shining bluish violet eyes

-Apprentices-

Raccoonpaw: a dark gray tabby tom with dark yellow eyes

Pinepaw: a brown she-cat with a small white locket and green eyes

-Nursery-

Featherheart: pale ginger tabby she-cat with 3 kits (listed below)

Palekit

Mistykit

Stormkit

Coalstripe: smoky black she-cat with ghost tabby markings, white belly, blue eyes (expecting)

-Elders-

Redstorm: a russet tabby tom with a graying muzzle, clouded blind yellow eyes

Darkscar: a black tom with blue eyes and a huge scar down his face and chest

* * *

 _Loners/Rogues_

Soot: a very dark gray she-cat with fiery amber eyes

Essence: a muscular golden tom with gray eyes

Ania: a plump pale brown tabby she-cat with dark copper eyes

* * *

 _This will be my first story and I'm very excited about it! I hope you enjoy, review, favorite, and follow! Criticism appreciated._


	2. Innocence and Simplicity

~Tainted~  
Chapter One

 _A young she-cat pricked her ears, and heard a tiny scrabbling sound._ Mouse! _she thought._ A tasty treat for me.

Her gray, almost black, paws moved silently, trying to be as stealthy as possible, though she stood out like a Twoleg pelt against the freezing blanket of white that encased the forest. Soot used her current thin, bony frame as an advantage. She was extra light, which made it easier to get the correct footing for winter hunting.

The mouse clumsily ran toward the evergreen tree to its right. Soot could hear it. She quickly adjusted her angle so that she could corner the tantalizing piece of prey when she reached the twisted pine.

Soot snuck over, until she was only a whisker-length away. The mouse turned its head, but Soot's reflex was too quick. She ended its life in a lightning-fast swipe of the paw. _I've never nabbed a mouse this easily,_ she thought. Perhaps it was only luck.

Soot dipped her head to reach the dead mouse. While her eyes were close, she inspected it more closely. The mouse's fur was thin, and its ribs were in plain sight. Its eyes were sunken in, a sign of starvation.

The black she-cat's amber eyes flashed with pity. It had been suffering, finding little to eat and growing weaker each day. Maybe Soot did the right thing by hunting it for prey, so that its days of torture could be over. Who knew? Soot leaned closer and closed her jaws around the mouse. Her teeth instinctively ripped its flesh, juicy warmth dribbling down Soot's chin. She dropped its bones, and licked up what little meat it had. Her belly still felt empty after that meal, but at least it would provide enough nourishment to survive another day.

Soot's ears perked. Snow crushed behind her, another animal was approaching. She froze. _What if it's a fox?_ The dark gray cat then relaxed as realization hit her. _That's careful, light footing. Foxes don't move like that, and even if it was a fox, I'd smell him before I heard him._

She turned her head backwards. A bright pelt caught her eye- golden. "Hello!" Soot mewed, trying to catch the other cat's attention. The cat jumped, apparently startled by Soot's friendly greeting. He turned tail and sped away, much to Soot's dismay. She had been looking for a companion for a while- not necessarily a mate, a companion.

 _What was wrong with that cat? He, or she, seemed scared of me,_ Soot wondered. She sighed.

 _Time to head to my nest. It's getting dark._ Soot yawned. She padded to a large maple tree and squeezed through a hole underneath. _Perfect._ She made herself comfortable and slept.

* * *

Three cats appeared. Then two more. Four more. The cats multiplied until there were three dozen in the rocky clearing.

 _Hello. You will know us far better in the future,_ they all murmured. _Soot. You are much less normal than you think. Do not make any relations with the tom with a corrupted soul._

Soot stared at the sheer number of cats. "How will I know all of you? I'm not joining any kind of gang, am I?"

They gave no helpful answer. _We may join. You will not be able to handle us all._

"Tell me something I don't know," she mumbled. "And who has the corrupted soul, anyway? How am I supposed to know who he is?" She waited silently for an answer. This dream was by far the most confusing she'd ever had.

She got no such thing. One by one, the cats fused into one huge, towering figure. It was Soot herself.

Suddenly, it turned lighter, though not that much. It was now a grayish dark yellow. _I didn't know that was a possible color for cats._ But the most fascinating and mysterious thing was that its eyes were pitch black. They were the darkest black Soot had ever seen.


End file.
